Hope For Freedom
by Darkwingsnow
Summary: Morgana sees her own future before it to late to change, will Merlin overcome his own fears of discovery or will Morganus still win over the young witch? i own nothing of Merlin all rights go to BBC. Better summary inside. rated T to be safe may go up in later chapters but mostly for blood and gore.
1. Chapter 1

desclamer: i own nothing of Merlin all rights go to BBC

Before Morgana druid camp (season 2 episode 3) she sees what she will become in a vision, the darkness, evil and pain she will incite, in fear she turns to Merlin. Will he help her over come her own destiny or will he once again sent her into Morgause's arms.

_Drip, drip, drip…_

_With a dark gleam within her eyes, she bent over the other woman and smiled. Both where dirty and ragged their hair was matted and thou the other was in the finest silk, she was in power not the other way around. _

"_Why? Why are you doing this?" the small defeated woman asked._

"_I thought we could play a game." The other said with a tilt of her head._

_The forest groaned with the wind and the dark wall seamed to cave in. wait what? It changed, it was always changing. Pail skin gleamed in the small amount of light in the room, she crouched down and with the same gleam and a cold voice "it's time for the fun to begin"….. An army marched forth. On the other side the knights of Camelot held as the white dragon…. "Emyrs!"…. pain, that all standing over a grave weeping, she stabbed the broken sword into the ground "I swear to you Mordred, he will pay for the lives he took!"…_

Screaming as she awoke, "Gwen!" the thrashing continued and as the maid ran to her mistress she was near tears, court physician trailing behind her. Taking the young royal into her arms Guinevere rocked back and forth drying to calm the king's ward, "hush my lady, it all right, I'm here, it going to be all right Morgana, calm down." Over and over she went till the young woman's tears ceased and she was able to look up without fear. As she spotted the old man with them she pulled away from her friend and tried to smile. Seating himself on the edge of the large bed he patted the raven's shoulder and toke her wrist into his hand. Morgana looked to the elder in affectionate remorse for waking the ageing man. "I'm sorry for waking you Gaius, you must be tired. Go back to bed, I'll be fine now." She pleaded.

"Oh no, my dear, I'll will not. Not until I'm sure you're not going to relapse, Gwen has been trying to wake you for the better part of an hour. It was the guards that woke me; even they feared that you would continue on." With that he rose and handed her a small bottle, "take this, it should male you sleep without dreams, I would have you take it if I did not fear the consequences of continual use." At that last part Morgana froze with the her hand mere inches from her mouth.

"Consequences? There are consequences?" she asked, but before Gaius could answer Uther strode into the room.

"Yes, consequences, and to what are you fear?" if he where anyone else, it would have sounded as concerned as Gaius was for Morgana, but this was Uther Pendragon and he did not ask, oh no, this was a demand. His voice was clod and lofty as though the concern of the best physician in the known kingdoms was nothing.

"it's nothing sire, once will have no lasting effects, however if she where to use it for even three day in a row, I'm afraid she may not awaken again" sighing at the last, Gaius raised his brow at Uther and tilted his head to one side, as if to say "are you done questioning my judgment?" then looked to the still frozen raven haired girl, see his look she quickly drink the tonic, waiting for the nasty taste of medicine that did not come, and handed him back the empty bottle.

"Thank you Gaius, I'm sure I'll be fine now, go back to bed all of you, its late." said with a small contrite smile to the room as she placed a hand on Guinevere's arm in thanks for her help before her guardian's arrival. With that the two trusted servants gave small bows and left the room for their own.

Thou Morgana was already having trouble staying awake Uther sat himself on the edge of her bed ran a hand down the side of her face. "Are you sure you'll be quit alright? If not I can call back your maid or stay myself if you'd like?" Though rare Uther's affection for his young charge was well known and this was just one of the times he had tried to calm her like this. In the past he would be the one to hold her not Gwen, but as she grew older it became difficult for him to stay the night in her room after a nightmare. And so he had an antechamber built for her maidservant so that she was always at hand if nights like this happened again.

"Yes sire I'm sure, Gwen is …. Just…..in the …other…" she never finished the sentence. Her eyes closed as sleep toke her. Uther smiled and covered her with the heavy quilt, leaving the room he looked back once with love in his eyes as he closed the door.

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Sign,

Darkwing_snow


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry for the wait

Chapter 2

Sunlight filtered through tall stain glass windows. Jade green silk whispered, billowing about a slim frame as it strode determinedly down the corridor, ghosts of men in sliver chain mail and scarlet Camelot crested capes passed by bowing to the King's ward, as she made her way towards the chambers of the court physician. Her gentle smile contrasted the pace with which she moved. The quick beat of her steps as they fell on smooth cobble stone echoed down the hall.

"My lady! Please wait!" huffing, Guinevere caught up to her mistress as the raven haired beautyslowed her walk.

"Gwen why don't you go on, have the day to yourself, hmm?"

Not waiting for Gwen's answer, Morgana continued towards her destination down the hall. "My lady? What… Lady Morgana!" left behind Guinevere sighed in defeat as she too turned and Retreated down the corridor.

Up and down stair ways, around corners and though arches she went. Nearing the wooden door that hid Gaius's workshop, Morgana sighed with relief, hoping that the old man was not there she opened the old wooden door just wide enough to sneak around. Closing her eyes she sagged against the aged boards of the opening. Exhaling she let the false smile drop, just as she was going to sink to the floor a curse cut though the silence.

"Where the bloody hell are you, get over here you little git, no, no, no, stop that ouch! Stop biting me! That a finger is not a chew toy! Stop! Down, down!"

Snapping up, Morgana spun around to the most peculiar sight. On the floor in the center of the room was the same lanky blue eyed, black haired servant that she had hoped was on the training fields with his master. Merlin raised his head from the tall tube like glass container at her gasp, his frantic efforts to shake a strangeblack blob off his finger while fending off what looked like and heard of equally black dogs. Each puppy was different, but the goal was the same, get Merlin's attention! A white socked and tail tipped puppy was hanging off the red handkerchief around his neck, another, this one all black with not a spot on it, was tugging on his boot, trying it best to pull the whole thing off, the last had gotten hold of his shirt and not being tall enough to touch the ground, hung off of the faded once dark blue material.

Mouth hanging open Morgana over looked the scene none pulsed. As a tiny giggle escaped her, Merlin looked up at the woman who was trying to hold back the waterfall of laughter that threatened to escape. Merlin, having successfully removed the mysterious black blob attached to his hand, stood up hands now latching on to the black body's on his clothing, lifting them he placed one on his shoulder letting it go as he did, the puppy raised itself up and sat it's front paws atop the hidden (?) warlock's head, snout resting on its own white paws. With one foot Merlin kicked a bucket, toward the table bench as the last dog let go of his boot and hopped up on the table from the bucket and once on top it glazed lovingly at the tall man as he lifted it up with his now free hand and cuddled both animals to his chest. Rosy cheeked he met Morgana's eyes. "Ummmmm, Hi?"

"Merlin, what?….how? … "Morgana stuttered out from between softer bursts of laughter.

"Gaius wanted me to clean out the leach tank. Only a week late, but you know the prat, can't go five minutes without me." His large goofy grin offsetting his equally goofy ears, "but you didn't come here for me and my leaches, Gaius is in the lower town seeing to some burns, but he should be back latter if you need your sleeping draught."

"Oh no, it that I just wanted to … burns? Was there a fire, where?"

"Oh there not bad, a forge caught fire and spread to the rest of the building last night, no one was there, but some of the people putting the fire out got hurt, nothing life threatening but enough to get the day off. We need a new forge though." The longer he spoke the grater Morgana's panic grew.

"That's terrible! Merlin! Who could just shrug it away? People are hurt, they're houses are gone, and they won't be able to eat and, and, and…."red faced and wet eyed she glared at the bewildered young man as she continued on stopping only when Merlin placed the whimpering dogs on the floor and took her by the shoulders. Shaking her slightly and steering her to the table bench Merlin kneeled by her feet and took her hands still in place as his glaze met hers.

"Morgana, things happen. You may have been able to go through life without seeing blood, but the life of a noble and that of a commoner are different. A small burn to them means that they don't use that hand for the day or stay home and do all the little jobs that they put on hold for a while, fix that wobbly chair, mend their socks or start preserving the winter food storage. My lady, that same burn, if you had it, Gaius would have to say that you couldn't use it for a week and keep it covered, then give you a salve for you to use for the next month. All that so you don't get a scar. The people that put out that fire went in there knowing that they would get hurt, but they did it anyway. If they didn't the flame would have spread to other buildings and more would have been hurt, they would have lost not just their houses, but lives Morgana. The bigger the fire the harder it is to put out. It wasn't a big deal, it could have been, but it wasn't, all because a few people get a little burnt."

That was the longest speech he had ever uttered in her presents. Tears now dried Morgana looked up from her lap to see the imploring eyes of the gentle and surprisingly wise servant. His heard of puppy menses trying once again to get his attention.

Giving a small smile Morgana nodded to show her understanding. The lanky man smiled as well and rose; walking over to the fireplace he put the kettle on and then went to mix a few herbs in a pot. Morgana's smile grew watching the black heard following him, frowning at the one white puppy that was not pulling at Merlin's clothing. When did that one come in? Merlin walked back to the rumpled lady who was peering at his feet , looking down he saw four sets of eyes looking back up at him, laughing he handed Morgana the cup in his hand as he once again used his foot to move the bucket. Seating himself upon it he waited for one of the black fluff balls to win the "who gets to sit on Merlin's lap" war. The white finally taking first place he rested his arms over his lap and took a sip out of his own cup.

"So Morgana what did you need form Gaius again?" about to put her cup down Morgana froze at Merlin's next words. "Drink it, my lady, it will do you good." Taking another sip of his own cup Merlin waited for her to do the same before he motioned for her to talk.

"Nothing to tell the truth, I wanted a place where no one would find me. When I was younger Gaius would let me stay in your bedroom up there when I couldn't sleep, he would tell me about all the great magic users that lived in Camelot before the purge. When I got older Uther put an end to my sleepovers, but since then this room has become a safe haven for when I want to get away from the world."

Her eyes had fallen to her cup during her speech, but now as she looked up to meet Merlin's gaze she saw an understanding that left her breathless. The wise blue eyes that seemed to stare in to her very soul where locked onto her. As he spoke next tears once again leaked from her eyes.

"You had that dream again didn't you? You're not running form the world, your running from yourself, from your own mind."

Crumbling, Morgana reached out her hand to Merlin in a vain attempted to hold on to something. Placing the puppy on the ground Merlin moved to take up the space beside Morgana and pulled her into his arms. Crying as she went Morgana let lose all the pain in her heart, words tumbled out of her mouth. Dream after dream, all the nightmares that hunted her where released. As an unknown amount of time on Merlin begin to run his hand through her hair, the long tussles slipping though his fingers. The white puppy used its companions as a latter and climbed its way up to the sobbing woman, the other puppies seating themselves at the feetof both humans. It seemed like hours went by, but it was just minutes before Merlin looked up as the door slammed open to see Author in the door way. The blond overlooked the room in amassment. Merlin, goofy, clumsy, annoying Merlin with a crying woman, looking like he did this every day. One of his hands was in her hair the other rubbing calming circles on her back.

The two men locked stares and with sudden understanding and a silent agreement Author stepped back out into the hall and closed the door. As he walked away he knew that his servant was going to be late again but this time not caring one bit.

As the door closed Merlin pulled Morgana even closer. Her hands moving from curling in the front of his shirt to up around his neck as she latched onto him. Her words never stopping, she went from cursing her dreams to thanking whatever gods gave her them, for they had saved the lives of many. These strange dreams that showed her as the one to kill the man she loved as a father, the one torturing her best friend and maid, the one to lead an army against all that she loved. That had hunted her for the lasted fortnight.

Finally after all her fears had been spent, and Morgana's eyes could no longer stay open, Merlin lifted the sleeping woman up into her arms, caring her across the room and up the short stairway, he put her down on the single bed in the room. After covering her in his thin wool blanket he turned and left the room, closing the door as he went.

What did you think?

All reviews welcome

A hopeful muse

Darkwing Snow

Good story but is slightly run on and tangled in some places -mb


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